The Mortgage Crisis in the USA
by Randy - Capital Terminus Collective

Denuded of their manufacturing sectors, urban America is the scene of a new gold rush. Chambers of commerce and speculators are scrambling for the last goodies, many of which are literally nailed down -- the assets of her public transit, public health and public education systems, her tax revenue streams and the land beneath her remaining public housing. The "regionalization" and eventual privatization of these lucrative assets is high on the agenda of chambers of commerce everywhere, and protecting them is seems not even on the horizon of the black political elite.

In Atlanta state and exurban public officials and business interests have carjacked billions in transit assets the region's two majority black counties have taxed themselves to build and operate over a generation while the black political elite is silent or complicit. Leadership is emerging from the communities themselves, who have offered a concrete plan for the democratic development of the region, but will the black political elite prove an ally or a stubborn obstacle?

Atlanta's Answer to America's Urban Transit Apartheid

by BAR Managing Editor Bruce Dixon

The contours of urban apartheid in twenty-first century America are depressingly familiar. Where post WW2 government spending built the interstate highway system and the suburbs to fuel white flight from the cities, the dispensation for the new century involves massive diversions of public resources toward the objective of disempowering and expelling the black and poor from central cities.

Thursday, May 1, 4:00 pm

Immigrant and Workers Rights Capitol Rally - Honor the Honest Labor of All Workers. Sponsored by the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, the rally will take place on the west steps of the Capitol (Washington Street, across from Central Presbyterian Church).

Attend and support the collective effort in defense of the human rights of all working communities. Hear about unjust deportations, families that are unfairly separated and raids based on inaccurate information.

For details contact infoglahr@gmail.com or call 770.457.5232

Coca-Cola, Darfur, Tibet & the China Olympics
In New York, legislators have introduced bills requiring the state comptroller “to pull
pension money out of companies like Coca-Cola…” (New York Post 7/24/07), which do
business in Sudan. And Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry “signed a bill… directing
the Teachers Retirement System and Employees Retirement System to get rid of holdings in companies doing business in Sudan because of atrocities in Darfur” (New York Times,7/19/07).

Despite an embargo of Sudan, Coca-Cola continues operating there. Jeffrey Gettleman
reported in The New York Times (10/24/06) "In 2002, Sudanese investors opened a new Coca-Cola factory, with Coke syrup legally exported to Sudan under an exemption for food and medicine. The $140-million plant churns out 100,000 bottles of Coke, Sprite and Fanta per hour..."
In opening up the plant, The Coca-Cola Co. exploited a loophole in the U.S. sanctions, thus propping up the Sudan economy and the government of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, an  army general who seized power in 1989 through a military coup. Among the biggest beneficiaries of government revenues have been his troops in a country where the per capita income remains pitifully low. Later, as the Darfur violence developed, Coca-Cola has continued to supply the plant and ignored the atrocities in Darfur.

According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department, Coca-Cola has paid fines "to settle allegations of violations of the Sudan sanctions occurring between Jan. 2002 and April 2004...OFAC alleged that Coca-Cola exported to its bottler in Sudan services not authorized by its OFAC license and disregarded or evaded certain OFAC license restrictions. The services included financial and market support."

Smithfield Foods has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Jobs with Justice, the Change To Win (CTW) labor federation, and the union organizing its employees in Tar Heel, NC, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). The suit was filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute designed to fight organized crime. The baseless suit comes in response to the growing national campaign to support workers’ rights at Smithfield.

In addition to the Smithfield lawsuit, the Wackenhut Corporation recently filed a federal RICO case against SEIU, and Bashas Inc, a grocery chain in Arizona, filed a state RICO case against UFCW. Last week, Cintas Corporation filed suit against UNITE HERE.

In each of these cases, the companies are asking the courts to rule that traditional First Amendment-protected activities such as handing out flyers, attending rallies and issuing press releases are evidence of “criminal conspiracy” under federal and state RICO laws.

The Smithfield case goes even further, asking the court to block organizers from petitioning city councils and churches to pass resolutions condemning the company’s notorious worker abuses at its Tar Heel plant. This legal tactic is a direct response to Jobs with Justices’ successful effort to petition City Councils and churches across the country to pass resolutions condemning Smithfield’s labor practices.

We believe these lawsuits were filed in an attempt to intimidate activists and chill legitimate debate. If successful, they could serve to attack anyone seeking to redress corporate abuses through legal free speech activities, whether environmental issues, animal rights, workers’ rights, or other issues.

In a little over a month, the U.S. will have been occupying Iraq for 5 years. Look at the numbers:

Nearly 4,000 US service people killed
More than 1,000,000 Iraqis killed
2,000,000 Iraqis living as refugees in other countries
2,500,000 displaced within Iraq
More than $1,000,000,000 spent

IT'S TIME TO TAKE A STAND !!


SILENT FUNERAL PROCESSION: We Bury the Dead !
On Wednesday, March 19, 2008, join fellow Atlantans in a Silent Funeral Procession. March to the cadence of a single snare drummer. Accompany the Honor Guard as they carry the coffins containing the corpses of TRUTH, JUSTICE, the ECONOMY, our fallen SOLDIERS, and the IRAQI PEOPLE. Take time to HONOR those who have made the extreme sacrifice in this war based on LIES AND GREED.
Assemble at 4PM at the corner of Freedom Parkway and Ponce de Leon.

Wear black.

Drape black cloth around your shoulders or over your heads (cloth will be available there). If you prefer, select a black hat from the hat box (available there).

Turn off your cell phone.

Put on a solemn face.

Honor the dead.

THE RESISTANCE

If a funeral is not your vib, fall behind the procession in a gathering of the RESISTANCE.

Bring and wave banners and signs

Chant

Scream

Yell

Raise hell



THERE'S A VIB HERE FOR EVERYONE !!